Friday, May 10, 2013 | 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at MSPP

James Ellison, MD, MPH, David Harnett, MD, Jason Osher, PhD,

Erlene Rosowsky, PsyD, Bob Weber, PhD, presenters

This full-day conference will offer an updated overview of major clinical conditions and diagnostic challenges encountered by the mental health clinician caring for older adults. Topics to be addressed include the spectrum of mild cognitive impairment, dementia, depression, anxiety and personality disorders. Individual and group treatment modalities will be presented, supported by case examples. The program will be run “workshop style,” so, in addition to the didactic material, there will be opportunity for Q and A and group discussion.  

Schedule

9:00 am            Welcome and Introduction - Erlene Rosowsky, PsyD

9:10 am            Prospective: Overview of common clinical presentations and lead-in to today’s program - Erlene Rosowsky, PsyD

9:30 am            Understanding Mild Cognitive Impairment - James Ellison, MD, MPH

10:30 am          Break

10:45 am          Cognition in Older Adults: What’s normal and what’s not - Jason Osher, PhD

11:30 am          Understanding and Treating Anxiety Disorders in Older Adults - Erlene Rosowsky, PsyD

12:30 pm          Lunch

1:30 pm            Depression in the Medically Ill Older Adult – David Harnett, MD

2:30 pm            Break

2:45 pm            Using Group Therapy to Address Aging’s Psycho-Spiritual and Existential Issues - Bob Weber, PhD

3:15 pm            A Group Experience and Discussion - Bob Weber, PhD

4:00 pm            Retrospective: Program Summary - James Ellison, MD, MPH

4:20 pm            Evaluations 

4:30 pm            AdjournProgram Code: A699
6 CE Credits
Location: at MSPP, Newton
$130 includes lunch

Erlene Rosowsky, Psy.D., is a licensed psychologist and past-president of Needham Psychotherapy Associates, LLC.She specializes in the assessment and treatment of emotional problems at middle-age through later life. Specific interests are personality in older age, health and aging, and the older couple. Dr. Rosowsky divides her time between clinical practice and professional and community education. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and is affiliated with the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Needham Campus. She is a member of the Core Faculty of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and is Director of their Center for Mental Health and Aging. Dr. Rosowsky is a Fellow in the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Rosowsky is well-published in the professional literature, and is a popular national speaker and workshop leader for both professional and lay groups. She wrote a regular column, Speaking of Aging, for the Journal of Retirement Planning and serves as Chair of the Generations editorial board.

James M. Ellison, MD MPH, is Clinical Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Service, at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA. His clinical work at McLean Hospital focuses on mood disorders and cognitive impairment and he is Director of the hospital’s Memory Disorders Clinic. He is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. An active teacher of psychiatric residents, fellows, medical students and other health care providers as well as of community groups, his research interests focus on late life depression and on non-cognitive aspects of MCI and dementia. In addition, he is a site investigator for two clinical trials testing anti-amyloid immunotherapies for Alzheimer’s Disease and Principal Investigator in a study assessing the efficacy of geriatric care management for demented patients and their family caregivers. He maintains an active private and consulting practice. Among the organizations to which he belongs are the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, Alpha Omega Alpha, the American Psychiatric Association (Distinguished Fellow), the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (of which he was president in 2003-4). He is a reviewer for several journals, has published in the areas of emergency psychiatry, clinical psychopharmacology and geriatric psychiatry and has edited six books on mental health topics. His most recent book is Mood Disorders in Later Life, published by Informa HealthCare in 2008. He is board certified in adult psychiatry with added qualifications in geriatric psychiatry. Dr. Ellison received his MD from UCSF in 1978 and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1993. His psychiatry residency training was at Massachusetts General Hospital (1979-1982), where he served as chief resident in Emergency Psychiatry (APS) during his final year.